Orvieto – Merletto Lace

In the early 1900’s an idea by Senator Conte Eugenio Faina and created by his son Claudio to create a patronage society (Ars Wetana) that should provid women with a job opportunity in the home. To this end the first fund was given to the daughter Maria Vittoria and to the noblewomen Eugenia Petrangeli and Paolina Valentini to be able to start this research and they identified in the “lace of Ireland” the type of work congenial to the purpose.

Lace making was a simple, valuable job that could be done at home. From the very beginning the processing of the lace acquired in the execution and in the decorative motifs of local Orvieto. The decorations and ornaments created were inspired by the subjects and ornaments of the Cathedral of Orvieto. Soon, lace processing also spread outside the context of the Ars Wetana company and over time generated increasingly varied and refined creations, reaching increasingly complex and artistic levels of workmanship. The Ars Wetana ceased its activity as a patronage company in 1974 to become a private company, but still today lace artisans from Orvieto continue the tradition of this particular artisan production.

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